The Charge

Opening Statement

This drama/comedy/thriller/mess from France isn't sure what it wants to be.
Although it certainly isn't a classic, it has enough interesting elements to
appeal to patient fans of foreign films.

Facts of the Case

Leo Shepherd (Gérard Depardieu, City
of Ghosts) is a French author who has just been awarded the Nobel prize for
literature. However, his great skill as a writer was gained at the cost of his
relationship with his children. His daughter Virginia (Sylvie Testud) manages
some of his business affairs, but it's immediately obvious that she carries a
lot of baggage. Leo's son Paul (Guillaume Depardieu) has not spoken to Leo for
years, mostly because of the pain of an abusive childhood. When Paul learns that
Leo has won the Nobel Prize, he decides that it's time to reunite with his
father. A long car ride and a freak accident later, Paul decides to kidnap Leo
and lets the world believe that he is dead, which sparks old wounds for each of
these characters that could allow for some healing or else make things a whole
lot worse.

The Evidence

Sometimes, movies just don't know what they want to be. A Loving
Father certainly fits this description. Is it a comedy? A thriller? A family
drama? I have a feeling that the director Jacob Berger would want to say that
yes, it is all those things. Unfortunately, in trying to be all of those things
at the same time, it doesn't succeed on any of these levels. It's simply not
funny enough to be a comedy, but too irreverent to work as a drama.

So many of the elements of the film stick out and prevent it from working as
a unified whole. There are several freakishly big coincidences that could only
be plausible in a romantic comedy. Since so much of the story is about choices
and decisions, sacrifices made for careers, and the damage family members cause
each other, these coincidences rip the audience out of the narrative completely.
It's a shame, too, because the tension and irony between the characters has the
potential to be on par with American
Beauty and The Ice Storm. The
music is also somewhat distracting, one of those overblown orchestral scores
that is generally reserved for Tim Burton movies and 17th century costume
dramas. Questions of believability also arise during some events in the film.
The whole kidnapping scenario is pretty half-assed, and there are several
moments that Leo could easily leave but doesn't, evidently because it would ruin
the script. The ending is odd, but somehow fitting.

Complaints aside, some other elements of A Loving Father work really
well. The performances are all excellent, allowing us to gradually understand
more and more about them as we observe both their actions and their memories.
Gérard Depardieu is at his best here, as a character that we are never sure
whether to admire, pity, or hate. Guillaume Depardieu does just as well, the
pain of his childhood etched in his face. Sylvie Testud is almost as good,
though she does get a little carried away at times. We get to see each of these
characters at incredibly vulnerable moments, which makes their lives incredibly
exposed. This exploration of the celebrity of authors is interesting, because
Leo's name is one that everyone recognizes, but they would never be able to pick
him out of a crowd. We rarely get to see the private lives of authors, even
though we get to see the lives of actors and sports stars splashed across
newspapers and magazines everywhere we go.

The cinematography is also remarkable. I have rarely seen such fluid
cinematography, which weaves through the scenery, subtly allowing us to peek in
at the lives of these characters. While the film itself isn't very consistent,
A Loving Father is always a pleasure to watch.

TLA has done a decent job with the technical transfer of the disc. The video
is in its original aspect ratio of 2.35:1, and is anamorphic. The quality of the
image varies from scene to scene, but overall it's decent. A few scenes do show
some edge enhancement, but the colors are reproduced accurately and the image
has enough detail. The subtitles are burnt in, but they are always easy to read
and grammatically well written. Sometimes during scene changes, the whole image
jumps a little, which is disconcerting.

The audio is better than the video. It's a stereo track, but it has lots of
separation, and the music (ridiculous or not) is mixed well with the dialogue
and ambient noise. Stereo tracks are always a little disappointing after lots of
exposure to good surround tracks, but this is about as good as a two-channel
track can be.

There aren't really any extras, other than a couple of trailers for other
films in the TLA International Film Festival series.

Closing Statement

There are enough inconsistent elements that I can't really recommend A
Loving Father for purchase. Still, fans of foreign films that value style
over substance will not regret renting it. If things had come together just a
bit better, I think this would have been a great little movie.

The Verdict

The cast is free to go, but Jacob Berger is sentenced to another year at film
school. TLA is ordered to take a seminar on DVD extras.